The PLM Alpha 2 team of Pusat Latihan Mekanik school in Brunei walk their battery electric car on the track in Manila at Shell Eco-marathon Asia. Photograph by Rick Barretto/AP Images for Shell.

This year’s Shell Eco-marathon Asia saw the first and only all-female team vying for the top prize. The PLM Alpha 2 team is from Pusat Latihan Mekanik (Mechanical Training Center) in the small country of Brunei, located on the island of Borneo in southeast Asia. Their F1-inspired prototype vehicle runs on battery-electric-power. (Related: “In Manila, Students Race for Fuel Efficiency at Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2014.”)

“ We want to show the girl power in the race,” said Nurul Hasanah, 18, the youngest of the seven-girl team, “that we can also do what male students can do in terms of innovation, design and building a fuel-efficient vehicle.”

Siti Sabariah, another member of the PLM Alpha 2 team, said that while it is the group’s first time in Shell* Eco-marathon, another goal they have is to inspire other countries to encourage female students to join such male-dominated events.

“There is so much potential for female engineering students like us,” Sabariah said. “We hope to see more and more females participate also in the future Eco-marathon events.”

Indeed, there are more female student participants in this year’s race than in previous contests.

Malaysia’s University of Malaya is fielding a female driver in the race, Nur Nadia binti Ahmad Hasar. Hasar, 21, a mechanical engineering student, said this is her first time entering Shell Eco-marathon.

“This is exciting and challenging for me,” she said. “I am the only female in our team and they chose me to be the driver. For me, it’s an adventure, good experience in practical engineering and I already met new friends.”

A female student driver from Polytechnic University of the Philippines – Manila tests out the PUP-Hygears team’s car. Photo by Imelda V. Abano.

TIP Mileage Proto team, from the Technological Institute of the Philippines, also has a female student as a team manager. “We can do what men can do,” said Louie Marie Pepito, 21. “This is a male-dominated event but we can also drive, build, and design a fuel-efficient vehicle.”

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About the Road to Eco-marathon

This sub-section of the Great Energy Challenge Blog features the stories of high school and college students who have spent much of the past year focusing on the problem of building vehicles that use less fuel. They are participants in Shell* Eco-marathon, a competition on three continents to design, build, and drive the most fuel-efficient car.